Please, Amethystos - can you take Eudaimon's English (for a Russian song) into Greek?

Thread: Please, Amethystos - can you take Eudaimon's English (for a Russian song) into Greek?

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  1. David Halitsky's Avatar

    David Halitsky said:

    Default Please, Amethystos - can you take Eudaimon's English (for a Russian song) into Greek?

    Hello my dearest friend Amethystos (yes - it is me again, here to pester and annoy you!)

    In this thread in the Slavic forum:

    http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=159865

    Eudaimon has kindly translated the lyrics of this Russian song:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ksiiPe1iqA

    into the English lyrics which appear at the bottom of this post.

    Can you take these English lyrics into Greek, so that we have at least a "second-hand" Greek version of the Russian lyrics?

    Here are Eudaimon's English lyrics for the song:

    Unbroken ice crust on the February snow
    Lights are off over channels
    It's so fiercely cold today
    Get the vodka out of your pocket, bro
    I don't believe in a fat city for us
    We have no chance for embrace and caress
    Closed doors are locked
    Our wives sleep without us

    Open the vodka, broken key
    I'll never live high now
    So roll in clover for your last days, bro
    Tomorrow only our feet will stick out
    Biting whirlwind will hit us underneath our cotton jackets
    The song will fade out, the wine will freeze
    What's gonna happen to us, dear brother?
    Maybe tomorrow we'll be trampled into sh*t

    You'll get your head blown off, brother
    Your daughter will cry, your mother will groan
    Me and my bro will cut loose evenly
    We're not to go to bed today
    Well, let's have our last glass full
    We're to stand here until death
    And come on, dear, roll in clover for your last days
    Tomorrow only our feet will stick out
     
  2. Amethystos's Avatar

    Amethystos said:

    Smile Job's done David

    Σκληρή κρούστα πάγου πάνω απ'το χιόνι του Φλεβάρη
    σβηστά τα φώτα στις όχθες των ποταμών
    Κάνει τσουχτερό κρύο σήμερα
    Βγάλε τη βότκα απ'την τσέπη σου φίλε μου
    Σε μια μεγάλη πόλη για μας, δεν πιστεύω·
    για αγκαλιές και χαρές δεν υπάρχει ελπίδα
    Οι πόρτες είναι κλειδωμένες
    Οι γυναίκες μας κοιμούνται χωρίς εμάς

    Άνοιξε την βότκα, σπασμένο κλειδί
    Καλά, δεν θα ξαναζήσω ποτέ
    Κι εσυ απλώσου στο τριφύλλι τις στερνές σου μέρες φίλε
    Αύριο μόνο τα πόδια μας θα εξέχουν
    Άγριος ανεμοστρόβιλος θα μας χτυπήσει μέσα από τα βαμβακερά μας παλτά
    το τραγούδι θα αχνοσιγήσει, το κρασί θα παγώσει
    Τι θα μας συμβεί αδερφε;
    Ίσως αύριο να μαστε άσχημα μπλεγμένοι.

    Θα σου τινάξουν το κεφάλι, αδερφέ μου
    Η κόρη σου θα κλάψει, η μάνα σου θα θρηνήσει
    Εγώ και ο αδερφός μου θα χωριστούμε
    Δεν θα κοιμηθούμε σε κρεβάτι σήμερα
    Οπότε ας γεμίσουμε το τελευταίο μας ποτήρι
    Θα μείνουμε εδώ μέχρι το θάνατο
    Και αντε, απλώσου στο τριφύλλι τις στερνές σου μέρες
    Αύριο μόνο τα πόδια μας θα εξέχουν


    Notices:
    1. The "broken key" doesn't make any sense in Greek text. It actually seems like two words copied from another context,
    2. I translated the first "bro" as "friend".
    3. Thread moved to "Misc Translations" according to the rules. A redirecting link will be found on main index for a week's period.
    4. Showing youtube's link may help someone understand what the song is talking about....
    "Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to?
    You will never find that life for which you are looking.
    When the gods created man they allotted to him death,
    but life they retained in their own keeping"
     
  3. David Halitsky's Avatar

    David Halitsky said:

    Default

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    υπέροχα - τέλεια - απίστευτο !!!!

    Thank you so much - I am proud to have such a good person as a good friend!!!!

    Here is a link to the Facebook thread which I posted with the two translations:

    https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...00008134184696
    Last edited by David Halitsky; 07-15-2015 at 03:55 PM.
     
  4. Eudaimon said:

    Default

    1. "Open the vodka" is imperative, and "broken key" is what it's addressed to, it would've been vocative if English had this case. I'm not sure about it myself, because a broken key is handy to open beer bottles or some cheap wine bottles, but I've never seen a bottle of vodka that would require a key to open it. But the song is old, so anything could be.
    2. There were some colloquial phrases in the text, I tried to translate them with colloquial English analogues but I'm not sure if I've done it good. By "fat city" I meant a rich and prosperous life; "to roll in clover" also means to live carefree and have everything you want; here, I think, he means like "drink without restricting yourself, it's all the same now". "To cut loose" means something like "to relax" or "to desperately take pleasure without thinking about consequences", so the whole line is like "Me and my friend will take equal share of pleasure". I'm not sure if "Εγώ και ο αδερφός μου θα χωριστούμε" gets it right. "You'll get your head blown off" is just "Things will end up badly for you".
    It was a hard one to translate, honestly. I don't know how well I passed it.
     
  5. Amethystos's Avatar

    Amethystos said:

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Eudaimon View Post
    1. "Open the vodka" is imperative, and "broken key" is what it's addressed to, it would've been vocative if English had this case. I'm not sure about it myself, because a broken key is handy to open beer bottles or some cheap wine bottles, but I've never seen a bottle of vodka that would require a key to open it. But the song is old, so anything could be.
    First of all thank you Eudaimon for spending time to give additional infos!

    Yeah that's strange, a key to open a bottle of vodka..... couldn't figure this out!
    But still the translation is the proper one.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eudaimon View Post
    2. There were some colloquial phrases in the text, I tried to translate them with colloquial English analogues but I'm not sure if I've done it good. By "fat city" I meant a rich and prosperous life; "to roll in clover" also means to live carefree and have everything you want; here, I think, he means like "drink without restricting yourself, it's all the same now".
    "Fat city"
    I got that since there was the context. So translation's fine!

    "to roll in clover"
    Translation's meaning isn't wrong but "απλώσου στο τριφύλλι" can be replaced by "κυλίσου στο γρασίδι" since in Greek we use "grass" instead of "clover"

    Quote Originally Posted by Eudaimon View Post
    "To cut loose" means something like "to relax" or "to desperately take pleasure without thinking about consequences", so the whole line is like "Me and my friend will take equal share of pleasure". I'm not sure if "Εγώ και ο αδερφός μου θα χωριστούμε" gets it right.
    To cut loose is certainly wrong translated according to your explanation.

    Εγώ και ο αδερφός μου θα χωριστούμε
    should be
    Εγώ και ο αδερφός μου θα ξεδώσουμε μαζί

    Quote Originally Posted by Eudaimon View Post
    "You'll get your head blown off" is just "Things will end up badly for you".
    It was a hard one to translate, honestly. I don't know how well I passed it.
    My friend Eudaimon this phrase has been translated truly accurately
    "Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to?
    You will never find that life for which you are looking.
    When the gods created man they allotted to him death,
    but life they retained in their own keeping"
     
  6. Eudaimon said:

    Default

    OK, it was just to make sure